Title: Inventory routing problem categorisation considering pickup decisions in closed-loop supply chains

Authors: Julio Cesar Londoño; Juan José Bravo; John Willmer Escobar

Addresses: School of Industrial Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia ' School of Industrial Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia ' Department of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Business Management, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia

Abstract: This paper is related to integrating backhaul decisions associated with returnable transport items (RTIs) pickup process to the inventory routing problem (IRP). RTIs are reusable packaging materials that must be collected and brought back to the supplier for reuse. Nowadays, RTIs are used to handle a wide range of products for carrying out and warehousing and need to be returned to be reused. The integration of a collection of RTIs to the IRP means that the supply chain cycle becomes closed, and its efficiency can be increased. This article categorises the problem that integrates the well-known backhaul reverse logistics decisions, and the collection RTIs (CLIRPB) is presented. A broad taxonomic review to obtain this framework was performed. The paper shows the research gaps primarily related to integrating the IRP and RTIs backhaul collection decisions. It presents a set of problems by considering the physical scenario characteristics present in real life, becoming an opportunity for future research.

Keywords: transportation; inventory routing problem; supply chain management; backhauls; closed loop chains.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISM.2022.119584

International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, 2022 Vol.15 No.1, pp.74 - 119

Received: 08 May 2021
Accepted: 16 Jun 2021
Published online: 09 Dec 2021 *

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